Twice in the last month I’ve heard the phrase “traditional lean” used in public presentations. In neither case did the presenter explain the expression, but one displayed a slide with a Venn diagram showing the overlap between lean and Six Sigma.

I suppose this means that he defined traditional lean as meaning lean plus something else, in his case, Six Sigma. For both presenters, however, the word “traditional” implied “passé.” They were moving on.

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